hound

EtymologyEdit

From Middle English honde, from Old English hund, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz (confer West Frisian hûn, Dutch hond, German Hund, Danish hund, Swedish hund), from pre-Germanic *ḱu̯n̥-tós, *ḱwn̥tós (confer Latvian sùnt-ene (“big dog”)), englargement of Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”) (cf. Welsh cwn (“dogs”), Tocharian AB ku, Lithuanian šuõ), Armenian շուն (šun).

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /haʊnd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊnd

NounEdit

hound (plural hounds)

1. A dog, particularly a breed with a good sense of smell developed for hunting other animals. (hunt hound, hunting hound, hunting dog, hunter)
2. (by extension) Someone who seeks something.
   • 1996, Marc Parent, Turning Stones, Harcourt Brace & Company, ISBN 0151002045, page 93,

     On the way out of the building I was asked for my autograph. If I'd known who the signature hound thought I was, I would've signed appropriately.

   • 2004, Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0743486196, page 483,

     I still do not know if he's taken on this case because he's a glory hound, because he wants the PR, or if he simply wanted to help Anna.

3. (by extension) A male who constantly seeks the company of receptive females.
   • 1915, Norman Duncan, "A Certain Recipient", in Harper's, volume 122, number 787, December 1915, republished in Harper's Monthly Magazine, volume 122, December 1915 to May 1916, page 108,

     "Are you alone, Goodson? […] I thought, perhaps, that the […] young woman, Goodson, who supplanted Mary?" […]

     "She had a good many successors, John."

     "You are such a hound, in that respect, Goodson," said Claywell, "and you have always been such a hound, that it astounds me to find you—unaccompanied."

4. A despicable person.
   • Shakespeare

     Boy! false hound!

   • Elizabeth Walter, Come and Get Me

     'You blackmailing hound,' the parrot said distinctly, in what Hodges recognized as General Derby's voice. Anstruther turned pale.

5. A houndfish.
6. (nautical, in the plural) Projections at the masthead, serving as a support for the trestletrees and top to rest on.
7. A side bar used to strengthen portions of the running gear of a vehicle.

In more recent times, hound has been replaced by dog but the sense remains the same.

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

VerbEdit

hound (third-person singular simple present hounds, present participle hounding, simple past and past participle hounded)

1. (transitive) To persistently harass.

   He hounded me for weeks, but I was simply unable to pay back his loan.

TranslationsEdit

AnagramsEdit

• no duh